Losing to Saudi Arabia, Vietnam Olympic team eliminated from ASIAD 19
Losing to Olympic Saudi Arabia with a score of 1-3 in the final match of Group B on Sunday afternoon, September 24, Olympic Vietnam had to say goodbye to men's football at the 19th ASIAD.
Dinh Xuan Tien almost made a difference after a surprising mistake by a Saudi Arabia defender in the first minute. Unfortunately, the SLNA midfielder was unable to beat the opposing goalkeeper in the subsequent face-off. Xuan Tien's situation and a missed corner kick were all that the Vietnamese Olympic team could do as the first half ended.
In fact, this scenario was envisioned before the match took place. If they had taken advantage of the opportunity, Olympic Saudi Arabia could have forced goalkeeper Van Chuan to pick the ball out of the net early. The efforts and luck of coach Hoang Anh Tuan's players only helped them keep a clean sheet after more than 40 minutes. In the 43rd minute, after a corner kick on the right wing, Al Yami did not give Van Chuan any chance to make amends with a classy header.
In the second half, coach Hoang Anh Tuan tried to change the lineup by sending Nguyen Hoang in to replace Xuan Tien, Van Khang in to replace Duc Viet, Vi Hao in to replace Thanh Nhan, Thai Son in to replace Quoc Viet. However, against an opponent with a higher level of football, this change could not help Olympic Vietnam play better. The opponent played a lot of attacking football, luckily for Vietnam, Van Chuan played quite well in this match and denied at least 2 dangerous shots from the opponent.
In the 77th minute, Vietnam Olympic had to push up their formation, because in the same match, Myanmar Olympic had scored an equalizer against India. This meant that Vietnam would be eliminated if they did not score an equalizer. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's 20-year-old boys played with great effort, but due to their limited strength, they let Hawsawi score two more goals in the 87th and 90th minutes.
It was not until the 90+2 minute that Vietnam Olympic team scored an honorary goal when Marran unexpectedly headed the ball into his own net, after Minh Trong's free kick. The result was a 1-3 loss, forcing Vietnam Olympic team to stop at ASIAD 2023 when they were not in the top 4 third-placed teams with the best results.
